If you are the director of a musical ensemble, you need to multiply your efforts. Why? Think about it. A one man band is fun to watch as a humorous event. As a serious musical expression, not so much.

A choir, or any musical group, is one of the few things in life we can’t do by ourselves. That’s part of the fun of it, well, it should be. To make sure there is fun involved here are some steps to take. As the leader, director of a group you not only want to but need to multiply your efforts. That’s why we want to have some tools to build that team.

Have a big picture and focus on the big picture
Explain the long-range plans of your organization and reinforce them regularly. Sometimes we are so focused on our next step, we forget where we are going.

Set goals for the long and short term. We are often working with volunteers and it is a good idea to help encourage and remind them why they are volunteering.

Team members need to develop individual and group goals. Urge them to set achievable and measurable short-term goals, as well as long term ones. With team-driven goals and a team-developed code of ethics, the group will begin to self-manage. Peer pressure and individual pride will help curb absenteeism, lateness and poor performance.

Establish trust

Be trustworthy and dependable. Honor your word. Treat all members of the team consistently and fairly and don't play favorites. Rehearsal starts at 7:00. Do it, even if 4 out of 12 are there. The idea will catch on.

Listen
Be open to the team's ideas, presented in a formal suggestion program or in

a brainstorming session. Thoroughly consider all suggestions and respond to the individual or entire team, whichever is more appropriate.

Be patient
Patience is what helps the long term picture develop in a way that will reduce frustration.

Have fun
Team spirit is energizing and unifying. Take time to laugh together. When team members see each other as individuals, their cooperation and willingness to work harder and more creatively increases.

Unifyyour team with collaboration

Astrong sense of purpose - Groups and individuals who truly collaborate see the value in working together. Collaboration is not forced upon someone. There should be a meaningful reason for working together, and it should benefit both parties the organization as a whole. Do we not have the ultimate meaningful reasons for working together?

In addition, unity to the vision increases accountability among teammates. Dependent upon each other for success, they mutually spur one another on to peak performance. At the same time, when a team is passionate about bringing its vision to fruition, its members know immediately when someone gets off track, including starting the rehearsal on time.

Understand the vision

The vision is inside your head might not be obvious to people outside of your head. And, that’s a lot of people. Help them to understand your vision, clearly. Say what you mean; mean what you say.

Pass on the vision Challenge each team member to participate and contribute. Urge them to take additional training if necessary and to step outside their comfort zones to develop their own unique talents. Acknowledge each individual's strengths and offer positive reinforcement.

Share your vision and intentions to get everyone on the same page.

See if your team members are able to describe the vision back to you in a way you both clearly understand.

Share Your Purpose

To rally a team around a common cause, you must see the vision clearly, say it constantly, and show it creatively. Once we’ve communicated something, we expect that people have caught the message. However, most of us need the vision laid out continually. Even if communicating the vision seems boring or repetitive, we have to remember that not everyone else shares our level of familiarity with or passion for it. We must share the vision regularly to make sure that newcomers grasp it. Restate your goals, vision and mission early and often.

Be Authentic

Be authentic with your team and always share the news, both good and bad. Lack of communication leads to fear, anger, disunity and turnover. What they don’t know will hurt them. In fact, they’ll probably make it 10 times worse than the actual reality. By simply letting your people know what’s happening, you’ll see your team come together, whether in celebration or during tough times.

It all comes back to food

Nothing says “Let’s unite!” like a great meal. Breaking bread/pizza together naturally bonds people. It’s also a great way for those in your team who don’t know each other to meet and begin building relationships. By intentionally fostering a culture of unity, you can take your team to a soul-satisfying place, where people are passionate about what they are doing.

Succeed one step at a time

​

In order to accomplish something meaningful, to get a job, or to do anything, you need to drop softly into a comfort zone. You cannot simply lay down roots instantly and get the result you want without taking many small steps to get there. Break that big picture goal down into systematic, manageable baby steps (think daily bite sized pieces).

Less is more. When it comes to execution, frequency is king. Do a little a lot instead of a lot a little (small, daily progress trumps one big time block once a week).

Document and celebrate successes often. (no matter how small). This is great for rehearsals of any kind. And it’s great for our spirit.

Direction is more powerful than speed.

Focus on progress, not perfection. Be gentle with yourself. Making mistakes is normal (you’re human).

Provide recognition and rewards.These drive human behavior, and human behavior drives results. Recognition validates people, their purpose, and their life. Intangible rewards can have an even greater impact than tangible ones, but they must be relevant.

Nothing succeeds like success, it’s really true.

Expand Your Definition of Success

Success is when all parties involved can benefit in some way.

We all like to be recognized for our efforts—give credit generously and often, but with sincerity. The more you give recognition, the more likely it is to come back to you.

Observe those around you.

Everyone is different. Strong emotional intelligence and healthy, lasting relationships are formed by knowing how to best engage each person. When you understand their motivations and reactions from conversations with you or others, you can better understand how to foster relationships with them.

Instigate

Unleash the “Power of the People”

Help people collaborate.

Collaborating will enable you to share your knowledge and work with people who can enhance what you do. The more people involved, the more skills you have access to!

Create learning experiences.We all have a desire to learn and grow, or we and the team become bored and lethargic. The best learning opportunities are experience and sharing with focus.

Your whole team will benefit from collaboration because as a result of sharing ideas and working together, they see how others think, perform and operate. This gives them a better understanding of how your specific team operates at a higher level. The skills and knowledge that each team member can pick up from others can be utilized to make improvements or enhancements to their own contribution.

Solve Problems and Innovate Faster

Team members with unique expertise and viewpoints could allow you to come up with ideas and solutions that you may not have thought of on your own at a faster pace. It allows you to Access to Skills and Strengths, you might not have known were in the room, that can help you fulfill your vision.

Communicate

Stop Talking!

“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.” Mark Twain.

Don't talk, listen. When somebody else is talking listen to what they are saying, do not interrupt, talk over them or finish their sentences for them. Stop, just listen. When the other person has finished talking you may need to clarify to ensure you have received their message accurately.

Prepare Yourself to Listen

Focus on the speaker. Put other things out of mind. The human mind is easily distracted by other thoughts – what’s for lunch, what time do I need to leave to catch my train, is it going to rain – try to put other thoughts out of mind and concentrate on the messages that are being communicated.

Empathize

Try to understand the other person’s point of view. Look at issues from their perspective. Let go of preconceived ideas. By having an open mind we can more fully empathize with the speaker. If the speaker says something that you disagree with then wait and construct an argument to counter what is said but keep an open mind to the views and opinions of others

Be Patient

A pause, even a long pause, does not necessarily mean that the speaker has finished. Be patient and let the speaker continue in their own time, sometimes it takes time to formulate what to say and how to say it. Never interrupt or finish a sentence for someone.

Praise the team
Celebrate achievements together. Reward the team, not an individual. Every group will have a star that excels at everything. Always speak positively about your team. Showcase their talent and recognize their dedication, efforts and successes publicly.

Sometimes it’s not easy dealing with people. But that’s what most of the world’s inhabitants are, people. When we get frustrated we too often speak right out of our…right brains, (see PS) the very emotional part, only coming to our senses after the words are out of our mouths. Oooooops. Provide recognition and rewards. These drive human behavior, and human behavior drives results. Recognition validates people, their purpose, and their life. Intangible rewards can have an even greater impact than tangible ones, but they must be relevant.

Give gratitude.

The most effective way to cultivate positivity in your organization is to acknowledge and reward the behaviors you want. I’ve found that showing gratitude every day has been a game-changer. It helps me

Your music:

When you have built a team that understands you, understands what you want from them, understands what they can really do, you will be able to communicate the meaning and beauty of your music even better.

Step 5
Get going

Move fast.

A sense of urgency is the one thing you can develop that will separate you from everyone else. Develop a bias for action. When you get a good idea, do it now. When your team is on the edge of their seat waiting for the next move, MOVE.

Don’t let gravity pull you down.

Collaboration is beneficial only when it leads to an outcome.

Just as massive planets produce gravity—drawing everything toward them—it seems that tough problems and challenging obstacles have enough mass to pull you away from getting what you want. This force gets bigger and stronger as the challenges get larger and tougher. Don’t give in.

Make it happen!

How do you do that? How do you really make personal accountability work for you? Wouldn’t it be easy if there were just some switch you could flip? An Easy Button you could push? Maybe an app you could use? Well, there really is a flipping magical switch-app-button. It’s called making a choice and acting on it.

You have the choice to fulfill your aspirations or wallow in the blame game and victim cycle. True success doesn’t come from the outside but from within. There is no wizard. Taking greater personal accountability is the key to succeeding in everything you do.

Prepare to move a lot of dirt.

Finding solutions is just like digging for gold. Have you seen the Discovery Channel reality show Gold Rush? It follows the lives of modern-day miners as they compete against time, one another and nature in hopes of striking it rich. First the miners must remove a top layer of 6 to 12 feet of dirt and rocks before the real mining even starts. Below this seemingly worthless and painful 6 to 12 feet, they hit pay dirt. The more pay dirt the miners process, the more gold they potentially find. In the end, they must move several tons of dirt to find just 1 ounce of gold. It’s hard work, but it yields rich rewards.

Stick to a persona that resonates with you

All of these ideas can only work for a sustained amount of time if apply these techniques, skills, ideas to who you really are. I mentioned this in the first edition of this article. To be authentic you need to be you. However, applying some of these ideas to who you are, could bring about magnificent results.